About the Dutchess County Historical Society
The Dutchess County Historical Society was established on May 26, 1914, at a meeting in Pleasant Valley, New York, and received its charter from the Regents of the University of the State of New York in 1918. Among the figures instrumental in its founding was Franklin D. Roosevelt, the future president and a lifelong Dutchess County resident, who laid out his vision for the new society in a December 10, 1914 letter calling for an annual yearbook, occasional publications, and transcriptions of the county's cemetery headstones. Sara Delano Roosevelt and Vincent Astor were also among the society's early supporters.
Roosevelt's yearbook idea became the society's signature achievement. First issued for 1914-1915, with a section on a 1779 Hudson Valley map, cemetery records, and membership lists, the DCHS Yearbook has been published every year since and is recognized as New York State's oldest continuing historical publication; the full run is available online. Historian Helen Wilkinson Reynolds edited the yearbook from 1921 until her death in 1943, and with J. Wilson Poucher and photographer Margaret De M. Brown produced the 1924 volume Old Gravestones of Dutchess County, New York, which catalogued some 19,000 inscriptions. The society has since published fourteen additional books on local history.
DCHS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that receives no taxpayer funding and depends heavily on volunteers, led by executive director Bill Jeffway. It continues its documentary mission through exhibits, lectures, an annual awards program, oral histories, and special projects, including Rev250 programming marking the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution with support from Dutchess County government.
Collections and Research Services
The society's holdings fill roughly 3,000 square feet of archival storage and two non-circulating libraries: photographs, postcards, manuscripts, maps, rare documents, textiles, diaries, wills, deeds, needlework, clothing, genealogical files, and correspondence documenting three centuries of Hudson Valley life. Notable items include a portrait by the itinerant folk painter Ammi Phillips and material from the 19th-century historian and illustrator Benson Lossing. Online tools include collection finding aids, a book locator, a photograph and image locator, a searchable yearbook index for 1914-1940, maps of Poughkeepsie, and town maps for members. All research requests, including appointment requests, are submitted in advance through the form at dchsny.org/ask; the society notes that its genealogical holdings are limited to families whose original papers were donated. Its cemetery transcriptions make it a good stop if you are trying to find where someone is buried, and our guide to free family history research covers the county and state records to check first.
Planning Your Visit
The Dutchess County Historical Society is headquartered at 6282 Route 9 in Rhinebeck, NY 12572, in the northern part of the county. Drop-in visitors are welcome Thursdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; on other days the society can arrange an on-site appointment through the online request form. Admission, parking, and accessibility details are not posted on the website, so ask when you book. Current exhibits, programs, and the online yearbook archive are at dchsny.org.
← Back to New York Societies